Introduction. Without hope, there is no motivation, no desire to live, suffering becomes stronger, and there are less chances for recovery. Hope plays a major role in treating a patient both mentally and physically.

The Objective of the study is to find answers to the most important questions concerning the gist of the notion of "hope": What is hope? What can we do to help hope live?

Procedure. The author believes that hope is more than just a feeling; he regards it as an existential act. Our activity is in the fact that we remain active, we take a firm position that will not shatter when one is unhappy, miserable, suffering fron a disease, or being institutiolisedia, etc. The ontological approach shows that hope means something that has not happened yet cannot be to exclude, i.e. hope is not self-deception and not a defense mechanism, it gives a chance to whatever events to happen. The following issues are revealed: the connection of hope with the attitude to the values of life, hope as a meaningful concept and deals with transcendence, the opposite of hope resignation (rejecting value, giving the things the free rein, losing ties with the events happening) causes desperation and despair. The so-called “false hope” is also highlighted, its positive and negative sides are shown and tips how to treat it correctly are given.

Conclusion. Hope means treating something as valuable. Hope is realistic as the forthcoming future can never be predetermined entirely. Hope is paradoxical: it makes you do something where nothing can be done. Therefore, hope has great potential for resilience. False hope is regarded as a defense reaction of the human psyche, but since it performs a certain function in this way, you should not simply take it away from a person. Where there is hope, there is meaning, hopelessness means loss of meaning.